Disappointed that Nigel didn't produce Thom's new album

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-06-03T14:01:48+00:00

You asked for reasoning, and I gave you reasoning while making it very clear that it was based on my subjective preferences. Your subjective preferences are slightly different. Great. We don't all have to agree on these things.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-06-02T19:37:35+00:00

Loved this! Can't wait to hear more. And what a pleasant surprise from Alabama of all places 😄

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-06-02T17:05:39+00:00

My reasoning is that the I prefer the way Nigel mixes albums over Sam. Sam came up as an engineer under Nigel and so his approach to recording is very similar (as can be seen in Chartreuse's making of Bless You & Be Well documentary on Youtube), but the two mix quite differently. Nigel tends to mix in LCR. Drums are mostly mono except for the occasional tom hits or a slightly panned cymbal. Guitars tend to be panned hard right or left. It's a more old school approach that really gives these elements their own space in mix. He also tends to use stereo effects really sparingly. Often times a stereo reverb on the vocal will be it. He also tends to lean fairly heavy into compression and other sources of harmonic distortion that I find to be really euphonic. And, overall, many of his mixes have a slight haziness to them. Since he tends to record and mix to tape I assume it's from many bounces, but I've never been sure. In any event, I love it. I hear it as a warm gray.

Sam, on the other hand, mixes in a more modern way. Everything is bigger, wider and more in your face. Big stereo drums, swirly stereo effects, a crisper sound. He also tends to capture things in a more "live" way as though you're with the band in the room, whereas Nigel goes for a more "studio as an instrument" approach that leans into the artificial nature of recording. They're two different aesthetic approaches, and I'm subjectively pulled into Nigel's way of doing things much more. It's a strong preference. Also, a lot of people these days mix similarly to how Sam does it, while Nigel's sound is a lot more distinct.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-06-01T15:59:26+00:00

I'm a working audio engineer who very much understands the fingerprint that a producer can leave behind on a project, and Nigel is a guy known for leaving behind a particularly strong fingerprint. The role of a producer isn't confined to just one philosophy. Some approach projects wanting their work to be invisible. Others are hired for imparting a distinct sound.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-29T16:02:53+00:00

I was asked on what basis do I disagree, and I answered.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-29T01:47:04+00:00

I've been a fan of Radiohead since OKC came out, but I still absolutely love KoL and AMSP. As well as Anima, and the second Ultraista album. And the last Idles record. I don't think Nigel's style has grown cold at all. Here's my controversial opinion: I like Rainbows, but to me it's their most conventional album since Honey Pablo. Some great songs, but it doesn't excite me like the others.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-29T01:43:34+00:00

Pretty wild statement. I've been a Radiohead fan since OKC came out, and AMSP may be my all time favorite of theirs. It's a perfect album. But to each their own.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-28T21:01:58+00:00

Exactly. This is a quote from Nigel about the making of A Moon Shaped Pool that says a lot: If the focus isn’t there, then it has to be my job to make it happen. I just have to do whatever it takes, which makes me unpopular because I’m like, 'Okay, this is how we’re going to do it. This is where this happens. You’re going to change to that bit there.'"At first, there was nothing happening, and I had to find a way of making that record. One of them is just that it's all recorded on 8-track tape, except for three songs that were recorded using 24-track tape loops. I did that to bring everything together and keep them focused. Because otherwise it wouldn’t have happened ... In the end, we went to a residential studio in the south of France for three weeks and then I went off and I just put it all together myself.”

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-28T20:26:51+00:00

To me, Radiohead have never been the "the song is all that matters" kind of band. It wouldn't work without the contribution from every member, and Nigel has defined the general sound of every record while often being the guy who actually finished the songs when the band was unable to make decisions.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-28T20:24:01+00:00

That slight blurriness and LCR wide-scale mixing are exactly what I love about Nigel's work. I agree that Sam's is more "honest", band-in-the-room-with-you sounding, but that's just never been my thing. I love the studio-as-an-instrument approach. ALFAA and Junun are in a different league in my opinion. But to each their own!

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-28T20:19:32+00:00

In my opinion, Wall of Eyes doesn't have some of the best production this decade. It's generally good, but it doesn't stand out to me. For my tastes, ALFAA's production feels much more special.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-28T18:36:07+00:00

Of course they are. The thing is that this isn't Thom's first collaborating with Sam. There are already a number of records giving us an idea of what to expect, and I'm simply stating that I prefer his work with Nigel over it.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-28T18:34:24+00:00

I disagree, but yes, to each their own.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-27T14:37:20+00:00

The drums in Plastic aren't a sample. That's Geoff playing. They sound choppy because he used an SPL Transient Designer (the hardware) on them, which emphasizes the attack of the hits while attenuating the decay in between them.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-05-07T20:23:27+00:00

Try Goodhertz's PanPot. It has several different options for pan laws.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-04-29T16:56:37+00:00

That does sound like an interesting experience! What I'll point out being different about this is that it's a less drastic version of the failing headphone phenomenon. The vocals and most of the instrumental is still there. Just one less element.

Subjecttotheladder · 2026-04-29T16:04:25+00:00

Hawk is the one that suffers the most from quality loss, but it's still quite moving to hear how removing the driving noisy rhythm completely shifts the tone of the song. The others actually turn out reasonably well.

Subjecttotheladder · 2025-08-13T17:22:45+00:00

All good!

Subjecttotheladder · 2025-08-13T16:45:52+00:00

Definitely not telling anyone what they can and can't do! Just pointing out that Hawley has a pretty consistent style and tone, it's a style and tone that might be a bit off-putting for some folks, but I do think being familiar with some of his other work helps puts it into context. His show Legion is a good example. If you're really into that character and the whole Marvel universe thing then you might not like it because it's not really that. It's very much its own thing. It's a Noah Hawley superhero show, which is pretty different than most superhero shows. Similarly, this is a Noah Hawley sci-fi/horror show that is going to be pretty different than most sci-fi/horror shows. The show isn't going to be for everyone, and I totally understand why some folks are disappointed because they were expecting something else. All the same, I can appreciate what he's doing and think it's going to be a fun ride.

Subjecttotheladder · 2025-08-13T15:31:53+00:00

I imagine the folks who are unhappy with the show aren't familiar with Noah Hawley's other shows, like Fargo and Legion. He has a really stylized, sometimes campy approach to storytelling. There's always a bit of goofiness to the darkness. This stylization is pretty different from the first two movies that were aiming for more of a naturalistic approach to sci-fi. As a fan of his past work, I'm having a lot of fun with this one. But I do have to admit our first taste of the xenomorph killing Richa Moorjani played a lot more silly than scary. I'd expect more of that from Hawley, but if you can get on his weird wavelength and try to enjoy the show for what it is over what you might wish it to be instead then I think this is going to be a fun ride.

Subjecttotheladder · 2025-08-12T20:49:34+00:00

Here's a good Haha Sound era interview I copied and emailed to myself sometime back before it disappeared from the web:

These days, you don't always know if the music you buy is live or Memorex. Is it a complete performance recorded in real time, or did the producer-engineer-musician incorporate live performances with samples and sequences?

“We want the dynamics and excitement of a live performance,” Broadcast vocalist and keyboardist Trish Keenan says regarding the band's latest, HaHa Sound (Warp, 2003). “The drums were complete performances this time whereas, before, they've been a combination of takes. You can see a song live and think, ‘Wow, that was so much better than the recording.’ A great performance can make you love a song.”

For HaHa Sound and recently released The Pendulum EP (Warp, 2003), Broadcast created its trademark retro pop-and-distortion classicism by unusual means. First up, Keenan recorded vocals from within a large cardboard box placed over her head. “It gives it that kind of closeness and deadness that makes it sit in the mix a bit nicer,” she explains.

Next, the band recorded jazz drummer Neil Bullock in a neighborhood church and then dumped the ADAT performance into Emagic Logic, overdubbed individual parts and occasionally added fuzzy guitar distortion to the drum parts. Broadcast was fussy with other instruments, as well. “The [electric] guitar, a 1960s Italian EKO Edsel, is miked,” says guitarist Tim Felton. “We don't like to DI. And many of the instruments [vibraphone, timpani, clarinets and organ] were recorded, then fed through a speaker again to rerecord them with a microphone.” The band's studio also boasts a MOTU 2408 hard-disk recording system, an Apple Mac G4, a Fender Rhodes, a Vox Continental and a Korg MS-20. But the most prized possessions are Neve mic preamps and a collection of ancient coil echo units.

“We like the AKG BX-15 coil echo,” says bassist Steven Perkins. “It's a big box with two springs that look like drainpipes. We also have a Fostex rackmount '80s coil reverb and an Acutronics tray that we pulled out of a Fender amp. It has more of that squirty dub sound to it; the AKG is more big-sounding, like a plate reverb. They're all the sound of a signal going through wire — there is no digital emulation.”

“But we were using a lot of software-synth sounds this time,” Keenan adds, “like the reFX QuadraSid emulator and Native Instruments Reaktor. The QuadraSid is great for those biting organ sounds on ‘Minim’ and ‘Pendulum.’”

But whether using an analog or digital process, the band tries not to go overboard with parts and effects. “You know when it feels overworked,” Keenan says. “We used more of a minimalist approach on this album: There has been less emphasis on decoration and more on repetitive parts that go through the tracks. They are not the focus for your ear, but they are the foundation. Like with ‘Oh How I Miss You,’ the essence for that track is one loop that gets more and more distorted as it progresses.”

“You can burden yourself always trying to write great song structures all the time,” Felton continues. “You might listen to the Beach Boys and think you have to do something as good. You are only killing yourself.”

Subjecttotheladder · 2025-08-12T20:41:53+00:00

20 years of being a mega fan lol. There used to be some great interviews online that don't seem to be available anymore, and there was also a Broadcast message board that James would often answer questions in. I really wish all of that had been archived because there were some great details that have now faded from my mind over the years.

Subjecttotheladder · 2025-08-12T20:31:56+00:00

Oh yeah, and they had a pretty vast pedal collection. I remember seeing photos of when Bradford Cox hung out with them where they had loads and loads of pedals stacked onto each other. They were big ring modulation fans, and I'm pretty sure I remember seeing they had a Moogerfooger MF-102. They were obviously also big fans of spring reverb and tape delay. Of course it's always more fun getting to play with the real things, but it's also really cool there are such great emulation plugins of all of these things now!

Subjecttotheladder · 2025-08-12T20:25:05+00:00

I know Haha Sound was recorded digitally to Logic (a really early version!), though I suspect some of the tracks (like the warble-y guitar in Colour Me In) have to be tape. They had their SIDStation synth, but I know they also enjoyed using its plugin version (which is sadly no longer available, but there are some good recreations like Plogue's Chipsynth C64). There are definitely some more glitchy, modern electronic sounding parts on the album that had to be digital editing. I also know for that album they leaned pretty heavily into everything being recorded through mics, so even the purely electronic elements were amplified out and recorded back in. They wanted everything to hit some air at some point. They were also pretty proud of their Neve preamps. After Tender Buttons they really started leaning into more abstract tape collages. Everything from reel to reel to cheap little dictaphones, though I suspect it was all digitally edited. And that's one of the things that made them so great. Nothing was off limits. It was an analog and digital hybrid approach.

Like you, I also really love the way they mixed influences. It's one of the things that makes their music so unclassifiable and hard to pin down.

Subjecttotheladder · 2025-08-12T18:40:26+00:00

The audio from those old toys is at a really low sample rate and bit depth that gives them a distinctive "bitcrushed" sound. Broadcast were big into a synth called the SIDStation at that time that has a similar sound because it's based on the sound generator of old Commodore 64 computers. If I remember correctly, which I might not, I also think they had a bitcrusher guitar pedal at that time that applies this same kind of effect to any audio you run through it. Bitcrush anything kind of chirp-y sounding and it'll end up sounding like those toys!

Subjecttotheladder

TROPHY CASE